Enjoy

This is a great list, thanks Ron

Putting First They Killed My Father on a list of Ultimate Backpacker Books seems a bit strange. Yes, it's a book every traveler should read before going to Cambodia but it doesn't fit with the other choices at all.

many of these are not novels. is it okay?

True of course but they're travel--

Seems to me a list that with this title should only have books that at least have a bagback associated with them, but I'm really struggling to remember one in Middlesex! Perhaps they are just favorite books for having with you while you're backpacking!

where is catcher in the rye? I feel like that book counts

Wow, a lot of bad choices I think. Eat Pray Love at #3? Really? I think the voters are hikers not backpackers. Also very troubling to see Stephanie Meyer on this list.

This list definitely needs to be cleaned up and have more specifications. Is it ultimate books about backpacking? Ultimate books you wish you could have with you while backpacking? Ultimate books a teen girl should carry in her backpack (on the way to school)? I think the parameters are unclear. I would interpret it as ultimate books about backpacking (or long-distance trekking), and many of these would not fall into that category.

Agree. As much as I love Harry Potter, the books in this series are not backpacking, trekking, or hiking books!

I removed the book The Eternal Plan: Revealed from the list. Added by author, but completely off topic.

Great list!

Btw, there seems to be a confusion about the term "backpacking".
A "backpacker" is someone who's traveling with a backpack and usually low budget style, e.g. staying in hostels and guesthouses.

In most of the world "backpacking" has nothing to do with trekking. In the US, there are only very few shelters in the wilderness, so people started referring to trekking in the US as backpacking since you need a huge backpack, but that's local slang.

If you would go trekking in the Alps, Andes or Himalayas, nobody would call that backpacking, since you don't have to bring a tent or sleeping gear and only carry a daypack.

Florian wrote: "Great list!

Btw, there seems to be a confusion about the term "backpacking".
A "backpacker" is someone who's traveling with a backpack and usually low budget style, e.g. staying in hostels and gue..."

Interesting. I learned this summer that what Europeans and Australians think of as "walks" would fall into the category of day hikes in the US. We went on a guided "walking" tour in South West Ireland and it was harder than any day hiking I've done in the US. I enjoyed it immensely but was not at all what I expected!!

I'm sure there are hard day hikes in the US, too.

For me the great thing about having ample shelters with food is: Once you don't have to bring everything and the kitchen sink, you can do really technical stuff with just a daypack, e.g. Via Ferratas in the alps:
http://www.dolomitemountains.com/en/r...

Also having a beer with your fellow alpinists in a rustic mountain hut after a long day of mountaineering is one of the highlights of my mountain day ;)

Anyway, if you tell anyone outside of the US about how you like backpacking, they will ask you what you think about Thailand or India.

Might be better to change the title to "Ultimate Backpacking Books", because most of these are not novels.

jo wrote: "many of these are not novels. is it okay?"

Yes, I noticed that too. Perhaps the list should be called “best backpacking books” because quite a few on the list are true stories rather than novels.